Teen: No harm meant by shining laser at plane, helicopter

We spoke with a Lee County teen accused of shining a laser at a plane landing at RSW and then at a Sheriff's Office helicopter.

What may seem harmless from the ground, can be devastating in the night sky.

"It's actually very distracting and dangerous for pilots, said Sergeant Steve Humfleet with the Lee County Sherriff's Office Aviation Division. The Sergeant knows all too well the effects a laser hitting a pilot can have, it happened to him in his chopper over Fort Myers Beach last week. He said, "For 5 to 10 seconds our night vision goggles washed out so we couldn't see anything."

Sergeant Humfleet isn't alone. The number of laser strike incidents, is exploding.

"All of our crews have been hit with lasers at one point or another. It's just getting worse and worse,” Humfleet told us.

On Friday night, investigators say 17-year-old Daniel Castillo shined a laser at a commercial airliner coming in for a landing at RSW. "That's the most critical phase of flight when you've got 200 people on board," said Humfleet.

While an LCSO chopper was trying to track down the source, it was hit three times by the laser.

Ground crews moved in and arrested Castillo who told us, "I was playing with the laser."

Castillo told us he didn't mean any harm. His uncle, Roger Gutrerrez said the family recently moved here from Cuba and Castillo didn't know it was wrong. "It's not like it was intentional to hurt someone, he didn't know the consequence," said Gutrerrez.

The family told us, they're just thankful no one was hurt and Castillo has learned a valuable lesson.

In Florida, pointing a laser at a plane is a second-degree felony and it's also a federal crime.

In Castillo's case, it is unclear right now, the exact penalties he will face.